


Snakes of a Feather

by ChocolateDoomBunny



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Creature Fic, Creature Harry, M/M, Mates, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow To Update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 12:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12630918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateDoomBunny/pseuds/ChocolateDoomBunny
Summary: It's Harry's second year, and the chamber has been opened. Harry meets the baslisk far earlier than intended causing a new chain of events, with consiqueses that nobody could have imagined.





	Snakes of a Feather

From the moment he woke, Harry knew something wasn't quite right.

Harry opened his eyes slowly, tense, the bedroom coming into blurry view. He felt uneasy, the sensation of it making his stomach churn uncomfortably. Unfortunately, this wasn't an uncommon experience for him, waking up like this. He had always been a light sleeper, the Dursley's had all but conditioned it into him, and Harry often found himself waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, with even the slightest noise able to pull him from his sleep.

A gust of wind blew past the tower, and Harry felt a shudder run up his spine. He pulled his covers tighter around him to block out the night time chill, however that did little to calm his nerves. Something didn't feel right to him, like he was being watched.

That was kind of silly though, and Harry knew it. The door to the tower was locked; no one could sneak their way in. And it couldn't be one of the other boys either; it was far too early for them to be awake. Unlike Harry, they were custom to a full night's sleep. Even now, he could here Ron's heavy snoring, and the slight rustle of sheets as someone turned in their sleep.

It was all just in his head, then. As usual. Harry sighed, and shuffled further down into his bed. Whatever, it could wait until he'd had his full eight hours. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the gritty quality to them. It took a while for him to finally settle again, his bed far too hot, and yet he was unwilling to stick a limb out in case there really was something in the room, and the only thing that protected him was his bed sheets.

As he drifted, Harry's mind began to wander. Perhaps he'd heard something that had woke him up, like a tap on the window or something. Could've even been an owl playing games for all he knew, or a cat that had wandered from the girls dormitory. Or maybe, Harry thought to himself, it was something much worse. Strange things had been happening around Hogwarts lately, cumulating in the petrifying of Filch's cat just last week. Maybe..

No, Harry shook his head vigorously, trying to forcefully remove the thought. This wasn't something he should be thinking of right now, he'd never sleep otherwise.

An hour had passed, and by this point the lack of sleep and his inability to drop off was starting to grate on Harry's nerves. Maybe he'd just give up for tonight, catch up on some potions reading he'd been putting off. Then again, it wasn't as if that slimy git Snape would care either way, he'd take points no matter what.

Harry was just reaching for his glasses when he heard it. A quiet rustling sound, like sandpaper on stone that made him freeze in place. It was faint, almost as though it was coming from the common room rather than the dorm. What followed was a dull thump, like a book falling off a shelf. Harry reached for his wand under his pillow, casting a dim Lumos so as to not wake the others. Quietly, he got out of bed and snuck down the stairs, only to be confronted with-

Nothing.

It was nothing, a figment of his tired imagination, his over tired, sleep deprived mind playing tricks on him. The common room was beyond empty, not even a fire in the grate. He was going insane, how wonderful. Now then, where was that text book?

Something creaked, and that defiantly wasn't part of his imagination. Had the portrait door just opened? Was someone sneaking out?

It was Gryffindor stupidity, Harry knew, that made him jog back upstairs to fetch his invisibility cloak from his trunk and slip his way out of the common room and into Hogwarts proper. At a glance, it seemed as if the corridor was empty. Whatever it was, it was fast.

Harry fiddled with his cloak for a moment, making sure it was securely covering him before he started walking. The scraping sounds continued further down the hall, and Harry followed them as quickly as he could.

The sound lead him down a maze of corridors and stairs, until finally Harry came to a familiar room. The second floor girls' bathroom. He'd never gone in, of course not, but from what he'd heard not many girls actually used them. Apparently the bathroom was cursed or haunted or something. Either way, that didn't matter right now. What did was the fact that the usually closed door was open, just a tad, and swinging slightly on its hinges as if someone had gone in recently.

Harry took a steadying breath. What now then? Should he really be going in? Whatever the thing had been, it was fast, big, and most defiantly not human. The last time he'd done something this daft, he'd ended up killing someone - as well as nearly dying himself, but that wasn't really the point. That did not set up good precedent to do something like this again.

Still, he was a Gryffindor. He had a reputation to uphold and, placing his hand on the old wooden door, Harry eased the door open slowly.

Really, after being so hyped up in his head, the actual room was kind of a bummer. In front of him, Harry could see a group of taps up on a raised stone step, positioned in a circle on what looked to be a marble pillar. Stalls lined the walls further down the room, the old wood of them painted a dark green colour that looked black in the dim light. It was all very fancy. No blood, no guts, no nothing. It was kind of disappointing actually.

Harry stepped further into the room, wand held out in front of him under the cloak. He wasn't taking any chances this time.

Something hissed near the sinks, and Harry twisted quickly on bare feet at the sound of the noise.

"Hello?" He called quietly into the empty room, feeling like an idiot even as he did it. What exactly was he expecting, a polite conversation?

_"Tap."_

The word had been so quiet Harry almost passed it off as the wind. _"Who's there?"_ Harry called out, stepping even closer to the sinks. He couldn't see anyone. After a moment of silence and with no reply, Harry finally conceded that this may have been a bad plan. After all, talking to disembodied, possibly nonexistent voices was surely the first sign of madness.

And oh, look, he couldn't see himself in the mirror. That was pretty cool.

_"Tap.. open."_

Harry jerked away from admiring his non -reflection. There it was again. Great. None of this was actually making any sense. Harry said as much to the empty room.

The hissing this time came directly from the tap. _"Sslytherin give me sstrength. I try and be cryptic and- oh forget it."_

Unnerved, Harry bent down to study the silver iron of the taps. Closer up, it was easy to see the little snakes that adorned the top of each one, mouths open and reared back, ready to strike. Surely these weren't-

_"Just ssay open you idiot!"_

Was it a good idea to listen to sink taps? Probably not. "Oh, um.. _open._ " Harry hissed.

The sound of stone grinding filled the room, and the marble below him started to shudder. Harry stumbled back just in time to watch his portion of marble sink pull back into the central column, disappearing all together into the dark hole it created.

_"Jump."_

Ok, so the voice was obviously insane. Or Harry was. Either way, could it not see the dark, mysterious and most defiantly not safe pit? _"And drop to my death? No thank you."_

_"Boy, I_ _sswear to the foundersss_ -"

"Harry!"

"Gah!" Harry screamed, spinning on his heals just in time to see, of all things, a _girl_ leap out of one of the stalls. His foot caught a particularly slippery tile, and then he was falling.

Or well, sliding it seemed, as his bum hit the inside of the pipe he was suddenly in. A less than manly scream left the boy as skid, feet and hands scrambling to find purchase.

Finally, Harry landed with a thump, toppling arse over teakettle, his fall not in the least cushioned by the shallow, inch deep water. It had a slight taste of copper to it that Harry really hoped was the pipes and not blood.

A breathless grunt left him as he finally came to a stop, face down in the water. Harry pushed himself to his knees, spitting out silt and mud. His hip and knees were aching something fierce. He should never have left his room. This was an awful idea.

Wiping dirt from glasses was a hard when the rest of your clothes were mucky, but Harry managed it all the same. Glancing around, Harry found himself in what looked to be a sewer system, with various pipes leading off in various directions around him.

His cloak was missing, and had probably fallen off in his fall. Hopefully it was still in the bathroom and not caught in the pipe somewhere. His wand was thankfully still with him, undamaged and held tightly in his fist.

What a night this was turning out to be.

_"Thisss way."_ And there was that voice again, closer now than ever. It sounded slurred, and Harry wondered once again if he should really be there. The obvious answer was no, but there was really no going back now.

Collecting himself, Harry gave his over large sleep shirt, a hand-me-down of his cousin's, a tug.

Well, he might as well.

He started to walk, following the unnerving echoe of the voice down the centre most tube as it twisted and turned. It led into a much larger room, lined to the brim with the same off -green marble the bathroom had been in. Pillars, tall and broad, held the lofty ceiling up, and water gathered in shallow pools at either side. From where Harry was stood on the central walkway, he could see a giant, open mouthed head at the end of it.

_"Hello sspeaker."_

The slurred speech was almost familiar now, as was the smooth sound of scraping stone. Harry clutched at his wand tighter, rooted to the spot as the whatever-it-was dropped down behind him.

Well, at least it was polite. It made Harry feel much better to be introduced to his would be killer before it no doubt ate him whole. _"H- hello?"_

The being let out a pleased sounding chur, and with a splash of freezing cold water to his back Harry suddenly found himself face to face with the largest snake he had ever set eyes on in his short twelve years of existence. The thing was massive, with green scales covered it from tip to tail. A large, red plume of feathers decorated its diamond shaped head, followed by milky yellow eyes that Harry was sure were staring right into his very soul. He fell back in surprise as the creature slid further into his comfort zone, scrambling backwards as the snake rose above him.

The snake reared up, brilliant white teeth shining with saliva. _"Don't be like that, its annoying. I'm not going to hurt you."_

Harry watched as a drop of that sticky saliva ran down a sharp tooth. No, of _course_ , this giant, fuck off lizard wasn't thinking of hurting him. What the hell was wrong with this school?!

A loud gust of breath left the beast's throat in what Harry assumed was some sort of long suffering sigh. _"Now, calm down will you. Honestly, I can practically_ tassste _it. Like mussk, ugh."_ Slowly, it lowered it's huge head until they were on eye level. This close, Harry could see the milky white film that covered the thing's eyes. _"This is hardly how one treatss one' ss host. If I wasn't sso sstarved of company, I'd have defiantly eaten you by now just for that."_

_"C-company?"_ Harry asked.

_"Of course, Company!"_ The snake huffed. _"Just becausse I'm a creature, doesn't mean I exactly_ enjoy _living alone."_ The snake gave him one last, piercing stare, before twisting in a graceful arch towards the stone head. _"Now then, come on. We don't have all night you know."_ It called over its nonexistent shoulder.

As Harry watched the last of the beast disappear into the statue's gaping mouth, he wondered, not for the first time in his life, why the Hell it was always him that got into these kinds of situations.

_"Hurry up!"_

Harry scrambled to his feet.

-

It took a moment for Harry to finally heave himself over the bottom lip of the statue, his scrawny arms barely strong enough to lift him. The room he found himself in was dark and warm, and rather large even when considering the size of its entrance. The floor below him was slightly damp, with loose bits of straw and twigs littered about. Another quick Lumos was enough to light the place fully, but the sight wasn't exactly a pretty one, with what looked like splintered off bone and congealed, dark red matter covering the floor. Harry grimaced at the sight, and the snake, now curled up at the very far end of the room, hissed unhappily at him. _"Take a picture, it'll last longer."_

Harry jolted, nearly dropping his wand.

_"I'm not talking to you if you're just going to stand there, you know."_

_"Oh, sorry."_ Harry mumbled. He best move, even though the snake was tightly coiled, it could still probably reach him and bite his head off quick than he could say 'fuck'. Bracing himself for the worst, Harry carefully hopped from one dry spot to another, wholly aware of exactly how bare his feet were at that moment.

_"Now then, sit."_

Harry grimaced. _"But its so... filthy."_

_"Oh, I am sso ssorry, I sshould have dusted before you came!"_ The snake gasped in mock horror. _"Do I look like I have armss? How would I clean, hm?"_

_"I- maybe use your tail or something?"_

_"And filthy up my scaless?! No thank you!"_

_"Ok, ok. Sorry."_

Gingerly, Harry sat himself on one of the few dry bits of straw. The snake sighed, it's tail thumping on the stone. They sat there in silence for awhile. Harry rubbed a stick between his fingers. The snake gave him a dark look.

Harry coughed. _"So, um. How long have you been here, then?"_

The snake levelled him a look. _"Far longer than you can imagine."_

_"Oh.."_ Of course, snakes didn't get that big overnight. Not unless it was magical in some way. Could a spell make something _alive_ bigger? Harry supposed it could, magic didn't seem to have any real limitations in that regard. Other than the food thing, that was. Which kind of sucked, now Harry thought about it, because that would have been so useful. Especially once he was back with the Dursley family.

The snake, obviously upset that it was being ignored, made it's displeasure known with a loud hiss. _"Sstop ignoring me, or I may do ssomething you won't like."_

Alright then.

Harry quickly scrambled for a topic, finally landing on the topic of his school work and the upcoming potions essay he was not looking forward to. Surprisingly, the snake stayed mostly silent as he talked- or rather, ranted in the case of Snape-, and soon Harry found himself loosening up slightly in the creature's presence. Every now and then the beast would interrupt him, sometimes to ask a question, or expand upon a topic. Evidently, the snake was not just some mindless beast, not that harry had thought that in the first place. Still, likening itself to a scholar was a bit much.

Harry never let too much slip though, either about himself or his friends. It was, after all, still a big fuck off snake after all, who not only moments ago had alluded to eating him if he pissed it off. Which, well. That was enough to make anyone nervous to share too much.

A few hours passed, and soon Harry found himself yawning, having to blink himself awake every few minutes to make sure he didn't drop off against the cold marble. It had to be way past midnight now, possibly closer to sunrise, and after the mostly sleepless night Harry wasn't looking forward to the day ahead.

_"Tell me, what is your name, boy."_

"Hm..?" Harry sighed sleepily. God it was so _late._ _"Oh, err. Its Harry."_

_"Harry, hm? How mundane."_ The snake hissed, studying the half asleep boy. _"Though I shouldn't be surprised, you are only human, after all. Though, I have known people with duller names I suppose.."_

_"Prob'ly better than yours..."_ Harry slurred back. That marble floor was looking more and more appeling.

_"Hm."_ Said the snake. _"Well,_ _I_ _suppose_ _I'll_ _take you back now._ _You're_ _about ready to drop off, as it where, and_ _I'd_ _rather you not drool all over my floor."_

_"Sounds good."_

The snake nodded. "I'm glad you agree." Slowly, it uncurled from its crumpled position, sliding past Harry as it set off back towards the entrance, only to pause at the mouth when it realised Harry hadn't followed it. _"You best follow me, you're dead on your feet. No doubt if_ _I_ _leave you too it_ _you'll_ _get lost in these pipes."_

_"Yeah, whatever,"_ Harry yawned. God, why was it so bossy? Almost like another Hermione, but more scaly. Much, much more scaly. And bigger too, though Hermione's bush of hair took some beating.

He steadily rose back to his feet, pressing a hand to the wall for balance as he made his way over to the creature, pausing to drop himself back over the statue's bottom lip. The snake lead him through a different set of pipes this time, and soon Harry found himself being pushed through a gap only just big enough for him, never mind a 40 foot snake.

_"_ _You'll_ _find yourself back in your common room, now."_ The snake was saying, pushing against his bottom with it's snout to force the boy through. _"I'd suggest going straight_ _to_ _bed, if_ _I_ _were you."_

_"Hm... 'kay then."_

_"Oh, and err..."_ It paused. _"I_ _wouldn't_ _mind terribly if you would come to see me again. At some point. If you wanted to. I wasn't lying when I said I wanted company, and I suppose you'll do for now. Needs must and all that."_

Harry yawned again, and spoke without thinking. _"Sure."_

It wasn't until Harry was back in bead, practicly already asleep, that he remembered the snake hadn't told him it's name.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought about this chapter down in the comments!
> 
> 28/06/18- First chapter has been rewritten. Hopefully its better than what it was! This is not abandoned people I promise.


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